Family traditions continue at suburban Istanbul restaurant

 

 

Istanbul (Dunya) – At a second floor restaurant with a balcony festooned with red lanterns overlooking the busy Bagdad Avenue, on the Asian side of Istanbul, Isa Wang, 64, is continuing a tradition began by his family in the 1950s -- serving Chinese food -- to middle and upper income Turks with a penchant for international foods.

 

"This is a family restaurant," Mr. Wang says as he gestured to the couples who brought their children to his popular Mai-Ling Chinese & Shushi Restaurant in Feneryolu, in the district of Kadikoy, which opened in 2006. Mai-Ling means 'Eternal Beauty' in Chinese and is the name of one of his daughters.

 

Mr. Wang serves guests a rich menu that includes an array of soup varieties, appetizers, and  dozen chicken, beef, duck and sea food dishes, as well as vegetarian specialties.

 

Hot and sour soup, Won Ton, spring rolls, sweet and our chicken, steamed dumplings, Peking duck, spicy Sichuan-style beef served with vegetables, homemade noodles and egg fried rice, topped off with fried ice cream and pineapple fritters, are the favorites of patrons, Mr. Wang said.

 

The Wangs also serve a variety of Sushi and Sashimi dishes, using salmon, crab meat, eel, mackerel and shrimp and rice, avocado, cucumber, sesame stuffed in seaweed rolls, and other  traditional Japanese flavors. 

 

"We reopened combining Chinese cuisine and Japanese Sushi, which has become a trend in Turkey," Mr. Wang said.

 

 

But it is in Chinese food that the Wangs have carved out a reputation of excellence in Turkey. It was the Wang family that introduced Chinese cuisine to Turkey 55 years ago when they opened the country's first Chinese restaurant in Istanbul.

 

Mr. Wang's family -- Chinese Muslims -- originally came from Chongqing, a major city in southwest China famed for its cuisine. 

 

Mr. Wang's father, Celalettin Wang Zin Shan (Prof. Wang), was a lecturer of Chinese language, literature and history who sought refuge with his large family in Pakistan in the early 1950s after pressure mounted in China against Muslims following the Communist revolution.

 

In 1955, invited by Istanbul University to open a Sinology department, Prof. Wang came to Istanbul with his wife and eight children.  He founded the department at Istanbul University where he taught for several years. He and his family all became Turkish citizens.

 

Moonlighting

 

But because his university salary was insufficient to support his large family, Prof Wang had to do extra work.

 

After consulting his wife, Fatma Wang, he opened Turkey's first Chinese cuisine restaurant at 22A Lamartine Street near Istanbul's Taksim Square. For nearly 25 years, the restaurant, which was popularly known as 'Cin Loktantasi' (the Chinese Restaurant), was country's only Chinese eatery.

 

The entire family, including several brothers of Prof. Wang, worked at the restaurant with the mother taking over the kitchen.  

 

Mr. Wang started working with his parents in childhood. His father died from a heart attack in 1961.

 

"I was very young when my father died. I started taking greater responsibilities at the restaurant," he said. "My brothers and sisters also worked, but eventually all left for other jobs, and I was left with running the restaurant."

 

He eventually got an under graduate degree in psychology at Istanbul University. 

 

Over the years, the Taksim restaurant attracted many famous Turkish as well as foreign personalities, including the American movie star Victor Mature, former social democrat leader and Deputy Prime Minister Erdal Inonu, former Foreign Minister Ismail Cem, the actresses Turkan Soray and Fatma Girik and the recording star Ferdi Ozbegen.

 

The Wang family also opened Ankara's first Chinese restaurant, which they operated from 1967 to 1972. They also opened a Chinese restaurant in Gocek, a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, and in Marmaris.

 

Chinese eateries mushroom 

 

During the past 30 years, Chinese eateries have mushroomed across the country, as more Chinese businessmen came to reside in Turkey, and Turks became aware of Oriental cuisine. Istanbul now has scores of them.

 

"In 1984, we opened the first Chinese restaurant in Marmaris. A year later seven other Chinese restaurants opened. Two years after, some 14 Chinese eateries were operating in the resort," Mr. Wang said 

 

Fed up with the increasing competition and needing a break, Mr. Wang shut down his Taksim restaurant and other eateries in 2002.

 

But in 2006, he opened the present restaurant Mai-Ling, serving both Chinese cuisine and Sushi. 

 

One of his younger brothers, Kurban Wang, operates the Chinese Wang Restaurant at the Istinye Shooting Range on the European side of Istanbul.

 

"It hasn't been easy to open a restaurant in a foreign country and maintain its popularity for over 50 years," Mr. Wang commented.